


Tomorrow Is Another Day

by turnonmyheels



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/F, Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-18
Updated: 2011-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-21 12:44:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnonmyheels/pseuds/turnonmyheels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline has always viewed her life through the lens of Gone With the Wind</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tomorrow Is Another Day

_She wakes with slender arms around her, nipples brushing her shoulders, skin pressing so tight against skin she can’t tell where one of them ends and the other begins. She turns in the cradle of those arms and presses sleep-soft kisses to a mouth as familiar as her own._

 

**July 4, 2000**

Caroline sighed into her father’s chest and smiled at the TV screen. It was her favorite time of day -- afternoon nap time. She and her daddy would snuggle on the couch and watch old movies together until they fell asleep. Because it was her birthday, Daddy had put on her favorite movie -- _Gone With the Wind_. “Daddy? When I get bigger I want to dress like Scarlett and ride in the Founders’ Day Parade.”

“You will Caroline. We’ll get your grandma’s hoops out of the attic--”

“But I don’t want to make the dress out of our ‘poteers’.” Caroline tilted her head to see the curtains behind the couch. She wrinkled her nose at the navy blue and burgundy plaid drapes. “They’re ugly. I want green velvet, just like Scarlett.”

“It’s too hot to wear velvet in August, princess, but I’ll make sure your dress is green.”

Caroline smiled and watched the screen, entranced as Scarlett tilted her head this way and that, making her diamond earbobs bounce while she flirted with Rhett. “And I’ll wear diamond earrings and Bonnie can be Prissy and Elena can be Melanie and--”

“I don’t think Bonnie playing the role of Prissy is appropriate, honey.”

“Okay then, she can be Mammy.”

Her father’s chest rose and his breath tickled her bangs into her eyes as he let out one of his “patience” breaths. “Sweetie, Bonnie won’t be Mammy or Prissy.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s offensive, insensitive, and completely inappropriate. I don’t want you to ever say anything like that to her at all.”

“Why?”

Her Daddy sat up then taking her along for the ride. Caroline giggled at the sudden change in perspective. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

Caroline rolled her eyes and reached for the buttons on her daddy’s shirt. “But I want to know now!” She twisted a button this way and that, pulling it out of the buttonhole and sliding it back in. “Besides you always say I’ll understand everything when I’m older. Why can’t I understand things now?” She glanced up at her Daddy and quickly back down again, concentrating fiercely on the button when she saw the frown on his face. The police scanner crackledclickedcracked and her mommy’s voice drowned out the sound of Scarlett riding in the buggy with Mr. Kennedy.

_“Send a team of four to the falls. Call the council, I’m on my way.”_

_“Sheriff? Isn’t it your daughter’s birthday?”_

_“Repeat, I’m on my way.”_

“Come on Princess, nap time is over. Let’s get you cleaned up. You don’t want to be late for your own party, do you?”

 

**August 18, 2013**

Caroline ran. Dodging trees, leaping over rocks and fallen limbs. She could hear Bonnie chanting, calling on the power of a hundred dead witches. Magic hung heavy in the air; the ozone smell of it clogged the back of her throat.

“Stefan, behind you!”

Damon’s enraged voice and the sickening crunch that followed pushed her even faster. Caroline had to find her, there was no other choice. Gunfire brought her to an abrupt stop. She crouched down and listened. Too much commotion of the fight drowning out what she wanted to hear. She had to listen closer, filter out the extra. There -- the hum of a radio. Her mother was in the woods. “Damn it, Liz. Get out of here. You’re going to get killed!”

Damon would look after her mother. Caroline blocked the sound of fighting from behind her and _listened_. She could almost hear Elena. She breathed in deeply, letting the air wash over her tongue like Stefan had taught her, as if it were fine wine. She could taste Elena’s blood in the air. It was coming from the falls. She studied the woods, looking for the easiest way to the top when she heard Tyler’s first agonized cry. Caroline could barely see the full moon through the tree canopy.

Caroline ran.

She reached the top of the falls and prayed she wasn’t too late. She took in the scene with a sweeping glance. Tyler had yet to transform, but the witch had already cut Elena. Caroline caught the witch from behind and snapped her neck. Elena looked up at the sound, her expression so lost and afraid it nearly made Caroline cry.

 

_Fingers trail the curve of her hip, glide across the swell of her breast. Thumb traces the shadow of her aureole, nail scrapes lightly across the nipple. It peaks in response and that mouth, that beautiful mouth closes around it, mouthing kisses against the peaked flesh before biting, biting, biting, drawing a drop of blood and flicking it away with that clever tongue._

 

**July 4, 2005**

Her hoops swayed with every step she took. Her hair was perfectly coiffed into ringlets and she wore the diamond earrings her daddy had given her that morning over breakfast, just the two of them. Caroline was ten years old and a picture-perfect, albeit young, antebellum Southern lady. Elena and Bonnie were wearing hoopskirts too but they didn’t have diamond earrings or a green dress. The other girls from her fourth grade class were sort of dressed in period clothes. Caroline supposed she’d give them credit for trying. After all, not everyone could be from a founding family and have the appropriate clothes just lying around.

Tyler Lockwood was very handsome in his suit -- even if he kept pulling the collar and messing up his tie. Matt Donovan was quite handsome as well; although it was plain he was wearing one of Tyler’s suits.

Caroline gathered the four of them to her. “I’m Scarlett, Elena is Melanie, Tyler, you have to be Rhett, and Matt, you’re Ashley.”

Bonnie’s arms were folded across her chest and she glared at Caroline. “I’m not going to be a SLAVE Caroline.”

Caroline blanched at Bonnie’s tone of voice. “I didn’t ask you to!”

“It’s bad enough I’m wearing these clothes, my gran’s head nearly exploded when she found out what you wanted me to wear to this party.”

“You can be …” Caroline searched her mind trying to think of who Bonnie could be, one of Scarlett’s sisters? Ashley’s sister India? Belle Watling? “You can be Sue Ellen.”

“So you can steal my boyfriend?”

“Bonnie, you can be Melanie and I’ll be Sue Ellen.” Elena offered, always the peacekeeper which is why Elena _had_ to be Melanie and Bonnie had to be someone else, and no one ever understood and--

“This is stupid.” Tyler took off his jacket and grabbed Matt by the arm. “Let’s go shoot some hoops and let the girls have fun.”

“Tyler Lockwood! You are just like Rhett Butler you callous scallywag!” Caroline shouted after him, but it was too late.

Her birthday was ruined.

“Come on, Caroline.” Elena put one arm around Caroline’s shoulder and the other around Bonnie’s. “You don’t really want to play Scarlett. You just want to wear the clothes.”

Bonnie nodded her head in agreement. “Besides, you know the boys would mess up and then you’d get even weirder about this than you already are.” Caroline reached around Elena and pinched Bonnie but she didn’t argue.

No one ever understood. But at least she had on her beautiful green dress and the hoops that made the skirt swing like a bell. Diamonds sparkled on her ears and her Daddy was there with his friend Stephen and Mommy was at work and not there glaring at her and muttering under her breath about what she ever did to deserve a daughter like Caroline.

 

**August 18, 2013**

“It’s too late. It’s too late.” Tears ran down Elena’s face and dripped onto the dirt as her blood puddled beneath her. Caroline broke the ropes and helped Elena sit up. Behind them, Tyler snarled and whatever it was that passed for adrenaline in vampires flooded through Caroline. Her focus sharpened to laser points, it was her job to protect Elena.

“It’s never too late.” Caroline bit her wrist and held it out for Elena. “Drink.”

“No, I don’t want to be a vampire.” Elena shook her head and tried to back away.

“Look dummy, you’re hurt. It’ll heal you. Drink.” Caroline pressed her wrist to Elena’s mouth. “Hurry up. We’ve got to get out of here before he changes.” Elena opened her mouth and touched her tongue to Caroline’s skin and every nerve in her body stood on end.

“Caroline.” Tyler panted out. Caroline was afraid if she turned around and looked at him she would fail at her only task -- saving Elena. “You’ve got to go. I can’t-” He screamed and Caroline squeezed her arm, trying to force more blood into Elena’s mouth. “I can’t hold off much longer.”

The long, jagged cuts on Elena’s arms and legs closed. Caroline pulled Elena to her feet before slinging her over her shoulder, fireman style. “Hold on.”

She turned then and looked at Tyler. His body was twisted in a rictus of pain, a silent scream on his open mouth. She could see his teeth elongate as his spine bent. The ropes he was tied with wouldn’t hold for an instant once he transformed. The quickest way down was to jump the falls but Elena wouldn’t survive the landing. If she died with Caroline’s blood in her system …

 

_She sighs and rolls over onto her back, parts her legs and cants her hips as the fingers trail from her breast to her cunt. They tease over the close-cropped curls, pulling and tugging just a bit. She’s wet already, still, always; slick heat near to dripping, eager and waiting to be filled. A finger circles her clit once, twice, three times before sliding down and tracing the delicate folds that hide her aching pussy. “Tease.” It’s accusation, curse, and prayer all in one._

 

**July 4, 2009**

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea with everything...” Bonnie let her sentence fade and looked away.

“But don’t you see? That’s why we should do something.” Caroline reached across the table and grabbed Bonnie’s arm. “Elena hasn’t left the house since the funeral. I haven’t had anyone over since my Dad left, and … it’s time, Bonnie. We’ve all got to get up and get on with our lives.” _Like Scarlett_ died on the tip of her tongue at Bonnie’s glare.

“Caroline, you just don’t get over surviving a car crash that killed your parents. And Jeremy’s being weird and moody. Not to mention Elena broke up with Matt. He’s completely destroyed. You can’t just expect everyone to come running because it’s your birthday.”

“Fine. If you don’t want to come to my house for pizza and hanging out and drinking beer then don’t.”

“Have you forgotten your mom is the Sheriff? How are you going to get beer anyway?”

“How could I ever forget my mom is the Sheriff? She spends more time at the station than she does with me. She hasn’t even told me happy birthday yet.” Caroline pouted. “Besides, I already have beer thanks to Duke and I’m ordering pizza. I’m inviting Matt and Vicki, Tyler, Elena, and Jeremy. And you too, Bonnie.” Caroline stood up from the table and flashed Bonnie her biggest, brightest smile. “Maybe they’ll come, maybe they won’t. I hope I see you later.” Caroline dropped a five-dollar bill on the table and walked out. 

Later came and went. Caroline curled up in a corner of the couch with a box of pizza and a six-pack of beer on the floor. Scarlett agreed to dance with Rhett even though she was in mourning and it was completely inappropriate. Caroline’s phone beeped and she dug it out from between the couch cushions. One text message, from Elena. 

  
Happy bday Care xoxo tell evr1 i said hi 

Melanie smiled as Scarlett danced, and Caroline absolutely did not sit home alone and cry into her beer on her sixteenth birthday. Because an hour later Bonnie came and made her turn off the movie and fix her face. 

“Elena told me to stop being an idiot and come to your party."

“It’s not a party!” Caroline said as she swiped mascara on her lashes. “It’s an exclusive get together.”

“You and I are pretty exclusive.”

“They’ll come! Do you think Tyler would miss a chance to drink?” 

The doorbell rang before Bonnie could answer. “I’ll get it, you finish up.”

Caroline studied her reflection in the mirror and applied a dot of lip-gloss to the middle of her bottom lip. “Perfect.” She could hear Tyler calling dibs on the pepperoni pizza and Bonnie laughing. She headed to the kitchen and saw Matt sitting outside on the porch swing by himself. There was a pool of light from the kitchen window illuminating him, making the edges of his dirty blond hair glow gold. He looked so sad and serious sitting all by himself. He looked up when she rapped on the window and waved at him. He gave her a halfhearted smile and Caroline felt the world shift beneath her feet. Matt was beautiful. And perfect. And everything she’d always wanted in a boy.

Not to mention he was in love with her best friend. Caroline snagged two beers from the kitchen and went outside to sit with Matt on the swing. He didn’t have anything to say beyond happy birthday. Eventually everyone else came outside and Vicki lit a joint. Caroline let the voices of her friends and the night sounds envelope her. She laughed when she was supposed to and said all the right things in all the right places. When Matt finally cracked a grin Caroline’s heart swelled in her chest and butterflies danced in her belly. 

Oh my god. Matt is Ashley. She clapped her hand over her mouth until she was certain she hadn’t said it out loud. She took the joint from Vicki ignoring Bonnie’s look and smoked. She didn’t want Matt to be Ashley or Rhett or anyone at all other than Matt. He was Elena’s and he was from a bad family and he smiled again at something Tyler said and Caroline could feel it all the way in her toes. She was in trouble.

Big trouble.

  
**August 18, 2013**   


Caroline ran. She leaped from rock to rock, heading away from the fight. Away from the falls. Away from Tyler’s transformation. Away from her mother, Matt, and Alaric fighting an unwinnable fight with only wooden bullets and vervain in their system to help them. Away from her best friend who would likely die trying to power the spell to stop the Originals. Away from the shelter of the boarding house. Away from Damon, who was trying to save Stefan from himself and protect Bonnie long enough to win. Away from Jeremy and whatever it was that was giving him freakish powers. Elena held on as best she could and Caroline kept one arm around her, refusing to drop her no matter how far or fast she ran. They were going to get away. It was all going to be fine. Elena was going to live and Caroline was going to live and everyone was going to be fine and this was all going to be over. Just a little farther to the old Lockwood slave quarters and-- 

She never heard him coming. Knew only searing pain as teeth ripped through her hamstrings. She dropped Elena, stumbled, and rolled. Elena screamed as Caroline fumbled for the pistol in her waistband. She shot Tyler three times but he’d already bitten and clawed at Elena. He yipped and howled as the bullets hit him in the flank and shoulder. She lunged between them but he was already backing off, turning tail and running away from the vampire with a gun. 

“Lena, Lena, Elena, come on, talk to me.” Caroline begged. Elena’s eyes fluttered open. “That’s it Elena, come on it’s going to be fine.” 

“Tyler.” Elena’s voice sounded so far away and she was right there right in front of Caroline, bleeding out all over the ground. “Is he okay?”

Tears slipped down Caroline’s face and she nodded at Elena, she looked down at the wound, there was so much blood and gore. Caroline didn’t know what to do. Should she patch up the injury? Could Elena survive a werewolf bite with the vampire blood in her system? Should she give her more blood? She brushed a stray piece of hair off of Elena’s face. “He’ll be fine. I shot him, but he’ll be fine. Oh my god. Elena. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay, Care. I know you didn’t mean it.” Elena winced and let out a little sound of pain. “It hurts.” 

“I’m so sorry, Elena.” Caroline’s tears splashed Elena’s face. “I’m so sorry.” Caroline bit her wrist again and forced the blood into Elena’s mouth. Silence crashed into Caroline’s senses and she realized Elena’s heart had stopped. She widened the tear in her arm and let the drops of blood fall over the wounds Tyler had inflicted. Caroline breathed a bit easier when they closed but it didn’t change the fact that Caroline had turned Elena against her will. Nothing could ever change that.

Caroline gathered Elena in her arms and stood. She walked toward the old Lockwood estate. She didn’t need to hurry now, it was too late.

  
_Three fingers slide inside, twisting, turning, pushing in and out, in and out, then pressing there, yes, right there, perfect. She comes with a sigh and a smile. She reaches out eager to reciprocate. “Uh-uh. Not today, it’s your birthday.”_  


_“Is it?” She tries for coy and utterly fails._

_“You know it is. Orgasms on demand and _Gone with the Wind_ all day.”_

_Caroline doesn’t bother to contain her enthusiasm and squeals, clapping her hands together. “Perfect! Just what I always wanted!”_

 

**August 13, 2023**

Her eyes were rimmed with black veins and blood stained her lips. It was the face of Caroline’s nightmares. The guilt came crashing over her all over again; it nearly knocked the breath out of her. Elena dropped the drained deer to the ground and met Caroline’s gaze evenly. Autumn leaves crackled beneath their feet as they cautiously moved toward one another. “I didn’t expect you to be here.” Elena spoke quietly enough Caroline wouldn’t have been able to hear her if she were human.

“Me neither.” She still flustered too easily, after all these years. “I mean not that I didn’t expect to be here, but that I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“It’s okay Caroline. I know.” Elena pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her mouth. “There’s still some left I think, if you want it.”

Caroline shook her head. “No thanks, I ate earlier.”

Elena cocked her head at an angle and looked so much like Katherine that Caroline nearly screamed and ran away. “Bunny?”

“Bag.” Caroline bit her lip and looked away. This was so awkward. Why was it so awkward? They used to be best friends.

“Damon?” Elena caught Caroline’s gaze with her own and held it. A million questions tied up with that one word.

Caroline had nothing to offer but the truth so she shrugged. “I haven’t seen him in about two years or so.” She tried to look away from Elena, the intensity was getting to her. “I woke up one morning and he was gone. I thought he might be here, you know.” She trailed off. Elena nodded. Neither of them needed to say anything after all. It was the tenth anniversary of everything falling apart.

Only Tyler and Caroline had come out of it relatively unscathed. Bonnie let the power consume her and killed Klaus once and for all. He’d compelled Katherine to stake Stefan and killed Caroline's mom and Matt. Damon had gone insane -- there was no other word for it -- when Stefan died. Alaric’s heart had been ripped out by someone or some thing. Bonnie’s death had ended the resurrection spell on Jeremy and he’d fallen where he stood without ever being touched. In the aftermath there had been enough of Klaus’s blood left in his body to save Caroline from Tyler’s bite. She’d captured as much as she could in a bottle for future emergencies and the only thing left to do had been burning the remains of everyone they knew and loved. And Elena.

“Elijah?” She hated to ask. Didn’t want to know really. Caroline had still been reeling from the shock of everything when Elena started to transition. Elijah had … not allowed her to die. He’d forced her to transition in front of Caroline. Fed her Alaric’s blood, which in hindsight, it was Alaric's blood being used to transition Elena that had snapped the last thread on Damon’s sanity.

“I’m sure he’s around somewhere. He always is.” Elena closed the last of the distance between them and grabbed Caroline’s arm. “I’m not mad at you. I was _never_ mad at you.”

Hearing her say the words after all the years didn’t make it hurt any less. “I’m so sorry, Elena. All I was supposed to do was protect you and instead I made you this--”

“Stop it.” Elena shook Caroline a little. “Everything that happened that night was Klaus’s fault. No one else’s.” Caroline shook her head and protested but Elena put a hand over her mouth to silence her. “Let it go, Caroline. You can’t carry this guilt around with you forever; it will destroy you.” Elena pulled Caroline into a hug then. Squeezed her tightly enough Caroline could hear her own ribs crack. “I can’t face eternity without you, Caroline. We’ve been apart too long already.” Elena eased up on the hug and caught Caroline’s gaze with hers again. “Okay?”

Caroline nodded and blinked away tears. “Okay.”

_The sheets are a tangled up mess, more wet than dry. Caroline’s head is in Elena’s lap, Elena’s fingers carding through Caroline’s fuck-tousled hair. They’re finally paying attention to the movie that’s been playing for hours. They’ve reached a point of near satiation just in time for the end. Scarlett is calling after Rhett to come back, she really does love him after all but he doesn’t give a damn._

_“I finally figured it out.” Caroline says as she watches Rhett step into the mist before she turns to look at Elena._

_“What?”_

_“The point of the movie.”_

_“Caroline, you’ve seen this movie hundreds of times and you just now understood it?” Elena asks as Caroline sits up._

_She takes Elena’s hands in hers and squeezes them. “When we were in high school and I was crushing on Matt? I just knew you were Melanie and he was Ashley and I was Scarlett. But then there was Stefan and then Damon and then Tyler, I knew they were all Rhett or Ashley at one point or another and then, well, my analogy got screwed up for a long time. But that wasn’t the point of any of it.”_

_Elena is amused and cocks her eyebrow at Caroline. “So what was the point?”_

_“The point was that Scarlett loved Melanie more than anything but she was too stupid to realize it, and then Melanie died and it was too late for Scarlett, but Melanie knew. She loved Scarlett just as much as Scarlett loved her. They protected and sacrificed and killed for each other and --”_

_“And all the Rhetts and Ashleys are dead or missing and now it’s just Scarlett and Melanie in the wet spot for eternity?”_

_“Yes!” Caroline’s sunniest smile beams across her face and she pulls Elena to her. “Yes, that’s it exactly. Except we really should find Damon someday. Maybe we’ll find him tomorrow.” She pulls Elena down and rolls on top of her. “After all, tomorrow is another day.”_

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Shafeferi who asked for: Caroline/any female, Caroline/Stefan, Katherine/Elena, Jenna/Alaric, Katherine/anyone except the Salvatores. As well as angst, pre-series, future!fic (bonus if you can combine the two), reluctant attraction, and complicated relationships. This is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it very much.
> 
> Thank you, Moosesal and LDThomps


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